


of red flags and deal breakers

by vicbartons



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 00:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11589174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicbartons/pseuds/vicbartons
Summary: especially over the first few months of a new relationship, you learn all kinds of interesting things about your partner. some adorable, some cringeworthy, most somewhere in between. but then there are a few that make you reconsider your entire relationship. for robert, the fact that aaron hasn´t seen what is arguably the most important sci-fi trilogy of all time definitely falls into that last category.





	of red flags and deal breakers

“Never seen those, to be honest. Is there nothing else on?” Aaron asked, looking up at Robert over the car magazine that his nose had been buried in for the past half an hour.

Robert, who had been hunched over the kitchen table, shot up at Aaron´s admission, eyes wide. ”Excuse me?“ He huffed, sounding genuinely offended.

Aaron only raised an eyebrow upon hearing the tone of his voice, fearing that he was in for yet another one of Robert´s lectures concerning his lack of knowledge of popular culture. (Or culture in general, if you asked Robert.)

“Never seen those,” Aaron repeated stolidly, his glare daring Robert to go off on one of his tangents.

It was an early friday afternoon and they were in the back of the pub. Aaron spread out on the sofa, bone-tired after a week´s work at the scrapyard, and Robert at the kitchen table with his eyes focused on his phone.

Up until a moment ago, he´d been scrolling through the listing for the cinema in Hotten. He´d heard that they were doing some kind of throwback event and showing nothing but 80´s movies all week, which obviously had Robert interested, giant nerd that he was.

So he´d brought up the idea of an impromptu date night. Work had been busy for both of them the past week, which had lead to them not seeing nearly enough of each other for their tastes.

That, and they were still trying to navigate this new phase of their relationship - the one in which they weren´t reduced to stolen kisses in dark corners and secret meetings in barns that smelled of hay and farm animals any longer.

Dating, according to Robert, had to include proper nights out for just the two of them, wining and dining more than a stone´s throw away from either of their bedrooms. (If he was feeling extra confident, he´d even go as far as to try and get Aaron into something other than a black hoodie for the occasion.)

It´s not that Aaron disagreed per se, he just didn´t see anything wrong with making use of the pub right next to his living room and the free pints that came with being the owner´s son.

But no matter how much he loved to tease Robert over his posh ways, if he was being honest, part of him enjoyed the nights out of town where it was just them spending time together, away from the eyes of all the gossip-loving villagers and the death glares of the Whites.

It made this thing between them feel more real.

And given how long Aaron had played second fiddle to Chrissie - never in his wildest dreams allowing himself to believe he would ever actually have Robert all to himself - just being out and about together in front of strangers, with Robert´s hand reassuringly pressed against the small of his back, was something that Aaron valued more than he could put into words.

Still, he wasn´t going to spend two hours of his life watching a sequel to a film he´d never seen.

Normally, he wouldn´t be too bothered by it. If it was up to Aaron, they would pick seats in the last row of the cinema and he could spent his night leisurely letting his fingers run up and down Robert´s thigh and maybe snog him senseless during the boring bits. That way, they´d be too distracted to really pay attention to whatever was happening on the big screen in front of them anyway.

He´d never have thought that that was an idea he would have to convince Robert of all people of.

Not when the man had spent most of their affair unable to keep his hands off of Aaron even at the most inappropriate of times. (Aaron´s cheeks still went bright red when he as much as thought of that afternoon up at Home Farm, when Robert´s hand had shamelessly found its way to his crotch under the table during a business meeting with Lawrence.)

But as it turned out, now that they were getting used to the luxury of being able to touch whenever and wherever they wanted to, Robert had no qualms about shoving him off and shushing him in favour of some geeky film that Aaron had usually never even heard of, which was more often than not down to the fact that it had come out years or sometimes decades before he was born. Instead, Robert was perfectly happy just to intertwine their fingers and lean into Aaron´s side, while letting himself be engrossed by spaceships, cowboys or superheros for an hour and a half. He was still Robert Sugden though, which meant that just to put Aaron more on edge than he already was, ever so often Robert would whisper teasing promises into Aaron´s ear that made him thankful for the darkness of the cinema. (Otherwise, the colour of his cheeks would surely have given away to the people around them exactly what Robert´s evening plans for them were.)

So if he was going to spend two hours in the dark, actually having to pay attention to the film instead of making out with his gorgeous better half, it would have to be something he´d at least be able to enjoy.

“How?” Robert started, still in an obvious state of shock, “How can you never have seen Star Wars?”

Aaron couldn´t help but smirk upon seeing the look on Robert´s face. “Mate, it´s just a film. No reason to go all-” he started, rolling his eyes in annoyance, but Robert cut in before he could finish his sentence.

“Just a film?” he mocked, ”Are you kidding me right now?” His voice almost jumped up an octave at that, while his hands were gesticulating in the air wildly, “ ´The Empire Strikes Back´ isn´t just a film! It´s a flipping classic, Aaron. It´s one of the greatest films of all time. How did you have the time to make your way through Michael Bay´s entire atrocity of an IMDB page, but skip over Star Wars?”

Aaron pushed himself up off the sofa then, scuffling over to the kitchen table. “Will you just get over it?” he sighed, leaning against Robert´s chair from behind.

Secretly, Aaron loved seeing Robert get all animated when discussing these things he loved that Aaron himself knew nothing about.

Whether it were comics, movies or books or even articles from one of the endless number of scientific magazines Robert had subscriptions to. Whenever Robert got talking about these things, his eyes lit up with childlike wonder and Aaron couldn´t stop himself from falling a little bit more in love with him at the sight.

That was, unless Robert´s usual excitement turned into more of a geeky wreath that he chose to focus directly on Aaron.

“None of them? Really?“ Robert inquired again, turning around slightly so he could look up at Aaron and wondering if perhaps, unbeknownst to him, Aaron had in fact spent all of his life living under a rock. “Not even the prequels?“

“The what now?“ Aaron asked, letting his head fall to the side, frustration clear on his face now.

“I feel like I need to reevaluate this whole relationship now,“ Robert muttered under his breath, but there was a small grin tugging at the corners of his face. Aaron took it as a sign and - since he was already well over this nonsensical tiff they were apparently heaving - leaned down and pressed a kiss against Rober´s lips. “You can be a right drama queen sometimes, you know that?“ he said, only pulling away an inch.

“Shut it, you,“ Robert countered, a bit of fire still left in his eyes, but his mouth already pliant under Aaron´s touch, “My boyfriend has never seen Star Wars! This is a perfectly fitting reaction to that kind of information.“

 _Boyfriend._ It had been almost 6 weeks now, but Aaron hadn´t gotten used to the word yet and it would take him a while still. Though that didn´t change the small tingling feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever Robert used the term. In fact, he had noticed that Robert used it quite often and the smile on his face when he did so told him that he wasn´t the only one who savoured the term and everything that came with it.

Not that there hadn´t been a certain thrill to their affair, but this, this had the potential to be so much better. Thrilling in a whole new way, because it was real. Because Robert wasn´t going to run off back to Chrissie after a quick screw anymore. Because this time they were doing things properly, getting to know each other in a whole new way, quirks and all.

“I know about the ´Luke, I am your father´ twist,” Aaron teased, couldn´t help himself really, ”There can´t be much more to it than that.”

“That´s not even the quote, Aaron,” his tone was harsh, but his eyes betrayed him.

“Course it is.” Aaron kissed him again.

“How would you know? You´ve never even seen it,” Robert´s hand curled around the back of Aaron´s neck, pulling him closer. “Makes me question what other red flags you´ve been hiding from me,“ he pondered as their noses rubbed against each other.

“Guess you´ll have to stick around and find out,” Aaron muttered, pressing a kiss in the space right below Robert´s ear, leaving a small mark there with his teeth. “Though it´s good to know you´re fine with the criminal record, but draw the line at 80´s sci-fi movies, weirdo,” he whispered, feeling Robert´s laugh against his lips, rather than seeing it.

“Nothing wrong with having your priorities in order.”

Aaron pulled back then to look at Robert, a playful, self-satisfied grin plastered on his face. “Let´s stay here tonight.“

Robert wasn´t the only one in this relationship who had his priorites in order.

“You sure?” he questioned, one eyebrow raised, ”We could always-” Aaron shut him up by bending down, there lips once again meeting.

“Mhm,” he hummed, letting his tongue slide over Robert´s bottom lip, “I´m sure.” He let his hands, that had been playing with the hairs at the back of Robert´s neck for a while now, move down along the collar of his white dress shirt until he was tugging on his boyfriends maroon tie. Pulling it lose in one swift motion.

Robert was grinning against him, determined to have the last word eventhough he had clearly already given into Aaron´s plans for their night. “I´m going to have to take Finn to see ´Rogue One´, won´t I?” he whispered against Aaron´s skin in a mock sullen tone, peppering kisses down his boyfriend´s neck, “The guy is such a-”

Suddenly, he was stopped by a palm pressed flat against his mouth, a mischievous look on Aaron´s face.

“If I were you, nerd,” Aaron growled lowly, one eyebrow raised high, “I´d shut up now.”

And Robert did. Mouth too busy with activities far more entertaining than banter anyway.

 

 

_(Obviously, Robert still made Aaron sit through all seven films a few weeks later. Both of them spending almost the entirety of a long weekend tugged under a blanket on the sofa at Victoria´s together, cuddling close and living off of nothing but pizza and thai food. Aaron didn´t actually end up hating them. Well, the prequels were a bit shite, but according to Robert, watching and hating them was a right of passage. Still, Aaron spent most of those hours watching Robert out of the corner of his eye rather than the telly, enjoying that fluttering feeling that found its way into the pit of his stomach whenever Robert´s face lit up and his cheeks grew pink in excitement.)_

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: [@vicbartons](http://www.vicbartons.tumblr.com)


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